Flying the SPAD XIII

[Olham 164]

I'd like to make an exception here, and report, with screenshots, about my first

campaign fight in a SPAD XIII with 103rd Aero, La Bonnemaison Ferme.

Would you believe it - Albatros-Olham in an American fighter, shooting down an

Albatros? Well, I had to overcome quite some emotions.

I'd prefer to see this pilot as my cousin, Dennis Marlowe - the son of my father's

brother, who had immigrated to North Carolina in 1892 (fictional).

 

We encountered Albatros DVa and DVa 200, and we where equally numbered.

As the Albs wanted to fight low, I had to go and stay down lower than I liked,

but I feared for my fellow pilots, and though climbing up, to come down again,

would just take too long. So I did more turnfighting than I should in this crate,

and I must say, she's doing far better than I had feared after reading about her

easy stalling at banking.

I did have 4 - 5 minor stall situations, but without bad spinning, and I managed

to get out of them. It seemed to me, that she behaved contrary to all my previous

experiences with other stalling craft: I got her out by pushing FULL THROTTLE and

pulling the NOSE UP a bit above horizon. It felt, as if she pulled herself out of

the stall with sheer engine power.

I will try that again, before I claim it a fact though.

 

See the fighting picture with my steep banking, more than vertical wings! With full

speed it was possible (I'm flying with 110 % realism; only auto-mixture is on).

After flying a craft like the Albatros, which isn't so much a turn fighter, it did

not feel to big a change to the SPAD - for a Nieuport or Camel pilot, it must be

a big difference. The SPAD even has it's own beauty, as the shot on the field may

show - enjoy my pics!

Olham - arrhhm; Dennis Marlowe

 

PS: oh, and I got him - the Albatros.

 

Edit/PPS: My goodness - these French can make a comfy cockpit!

Edited June 26, 2009 by Olham

[Olham 164]

Good grief! Had a fight against Fokker DVII from Jasta 6; Werner Noldecke, Paul Wenzel, Richard 'Ricardo' Wenzl

and Franz 'Locken' Werner among them. As I have hardly flown the DVII, I didn't know how good they would do.

Well, they did VERY good - I fell into a lake with my crate! Back to square one - arhm - back to QC training!

Edited June 28, 2009 by Olham

[Rickitycrate 10]

After all this time..... you still have much to do and experience. Such fun.

[OvS 8]

Good grief! Had a fight against Fokker DVII from Jasta 6; Werner Noldecke, Paul Wenzel, Richard 'Ricardo' Wenzl

and Franz 'Locken' Werner among them. As I have hardly flown the DVII, I didn't know how good they would do.

Well, they did VERY good - I fell into a lake with my crate! Back to square one - arhm - back to QC training!

 

The Spud is a B/Z... get up, get on it... get out.. .over and over. If you try and turn fight, you're dead. Altitude is the Spud's best friend as you can exchange it for energy. Once you're down low, you're done for.

 

OvS

[SirMike1983 3]

I was going to say something earlier, but figured you would have this encounter naturally on your own. Fighting an Alb in the Spad is a different universe than trying to bring down a D.VII. You can hang and try to slug it out with Albs, you'll come out stronger. Do not try to directly slug it out with D.VIIs. Unless you have an altitude advantage do NOT attempt to engage D.VIIs. My method for doing this is to hang high and behind my flight in the "section and stinger" approach. Allow the D.VIIs to engage the flight a bit. Once they have come down enough, you'll be above the D.VIIs. Then go vertical with them-- down and up yo-yo type attacks all the way. Do NOT attempt to follow a D.VII in a turn or below the others. Attack the highest D.VII with the power on and get a lot of speed. Take your bursts, then full power climb away. If he dives hard, don't follow-- yo yo back up. Then restart the process with the highest remaining D.VII. If you find yourself level with a D.VII, full power away from him. Once he's a long ways out, turn back and make a head-on pass against him (or just leave). If he's close behind you-- full power dive and then suddenly come up for a loop. Do the FULL loop: if he's close enough he'll be inside your loop and you'll come up either behind him, or a little off to the side. In either event it's much better than having him behind you. If you are outnumbered, don't engage. If all else fails, dive powerfully VERY LOW. Go as low as you can without crashing-- full power all the way. When they try to follow you down, they'll get low enough eventually so that they start to wastefully flutter up and down (AI behavior). Run out on them and escape. If you feel lucky or favored-- turn back and make a head-on pass.

Edited June 28, 2009 by SirMike1983

[Olham 164]

Thanks all, but I should have known most of this.

According to my data, the SPAD is faster and climbs better than the DVII?

Should try to make use of that then.

 

Your low down dive should do great for gaining distance and more speed, SirMike, but going home from there? NEVER!

From that lowest point, I will - at least once - try and zoom up steep (they shouldn't be able to follow that as fast) and

with the necessary distance between us, perform a loop, to check headover, where they are, and attack again.

 

Maybe you tried that, and it didn't work? Well I have to do it once, so I know - the benefits of not being in a real war...

[Hauksbee 103]

Nice entry, SirMike. A good condensed primer on B/Z fighters. Crib notes for the cockpit!

[Hasse Wind 46]

I think if one knows how to fight effectively with the Alb, it's not really very difficult to move on to the Spad. As long as one remembers the Alb is nimble compared to the Spad! But I still find it's much easier to get kills flying the Alb than the Spad, because you don't have to be so dogmatic about boom and zoom tactics in the Alb - some models, especially the D.III, are so manoeuvrable that you can even do some turn fighting with some opponents. But that's certainly not advisable when flying the Spad.

[Olham 164]

Yes, Hasse Wind, I do a lot of turn fighting in the DIII.

Yesterday I turned with three Sopwith Triplanes - and sent two of them down (the third got shot up badly

by my wingman). You should have good wingmen though in such a case - alone, it would have been a

different cup of tea. But when you are good at deflection and long range shooting, no problem.

[themightysrc 5]

I hate to be a curmudgeon, but why bother flying Spads when there are so many more interesting aircraft in the game? Yes, I know that Spad VIIs and XIIIs are all part of the experience, but it's really like flying a brick. I'm afraid that I'm with the Pups and N17s of this world: delicate and classy - and ideal for pouncing on bewildered DIII pilots, the poor suckers. Ah well, serves them right.

[SirMike1983 3]

Thanks all, but I should have known most of this.

According to my data, the SPAD is faster and climbs better than the DVII?

Should try to make use of that then.

 

Your low down dive should do great for gaining distance and more speed, SirMike, but going home from there? NEVER!

From that lowest point, I will - at least once - try and zoom up steep (they shouldn't be able to follow that as fast) and

with the necessary distance between us, perform a loop, to check headover, where they are, and attack again.

 

Maybe you tried that, and it didn't work? Well I have to do it once, so I know - the benefits of not being in a real war...

 

 

I would avoid a straight climbing match with an AI D.VII. From what I can tell in the game, the AI in the D.VII seems to be able to outclimb the Spad XIII. They also have the annoying habit of being able to hang vertically for a moment or so and shoot up at you. The other problem is that the climb+turn move isn't a viable option in the Spad XIII because it really likes to stall and flop the wing around. You'll pretty much be going up in a straight line.

 

In some instances it is possible to turn fight against a D.VII- they key is that you start above him and operate turn that is pretty much a dive-turn. As long as the speed is up enough you can turn with him for a short time. Once speed slacks off, you have to run out on him or try to yo-yo a bit while he regroups. You're flying a V-8 motor with some wings attached, not so much an airplane.

Edited June 28, 2009 by SirMike1983

[Olham 164]

Hey, Mighty - I just shreddered 4 of your Nupe 17 south of Juniville, flying a "bewildered" Albatros DIII. So much for that.

And I fly the SPAD, cause it was made. Cause it was lovingly modelled and painted lots of skins for.

Cause I want to take on the challenge to fly a crate, that is NOT easy to fly reasons enough for me.